Charlotte Police say murder investigation near Lake Wylie includes robbery charges

Police don’t have a message for neighbors following a homicide in the RiverPointe subdivision. Other than to ask for any information that might help the case.

Steele Creek Division officers with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department responded to a welfare check at 3:45 p.m. July 19 at 16500 Plantation Woods Drive. There, they found the body of 64-year-old David Albert Doyle, Jr., at his residence.

The department released Doyle’s name the following morning, but no new information since. On July 24, CMPD Officer Keith Trietley said the department still had nothing else to share, and no message for neighbors in the Steele Creek community.

According to the initial police report, the incident occurred sometime between 8:30 p.m. Saturday and when officers arrived Sunday afternoon. Doyle’s 2013 Chevrolet Avalanche was stolen but later recovered. There is no suspect listed, but charges include burglary, robbery, and breaking and entering. Weapons used include a knife and two blunt objects.

A Lake Wylie resident who called in the welfare check declined to comment on what happened, at the request of investigators.

Neighbors were still trying to make sense of what happened days after the murder, saying they wouldn’t expect such a serious a crime in the upscale, lakefront neighborhood.

“Everybody’s vulnerable. Kind of a hard way of looking at it,” said one neighbor, who asked not to be named pending the investigation.

That neighbor lives on the same side of the street as the victim but didn’t know him. The neighbor “found out about it on the news like everybody else,” he said. A few doors down, a woman who vaguely knew the victim described an active scene Monday as police went door-to-door looking for information.

The crime scene tape came down Monday, she said, and the neighborhood was returning to normal on Tuesday.

She and other neighbors said police haven’t provided updates on the case.

“They’re being real tight-lipped about it,” she said.

Doyle was a member of the River Hills/Lake Wylie Lions Club. Lee Rowley, past president of the club, said Tuesday he heard Doyle died but wasn’t aware of the circumstances.

“David Hoyle was one of us,” Rowley said. “As of right now we don’t have any details.”

Rowley recalls the funeral of Doyle’s wife, who died earlier this year after battling cancer. Doyle joined the club in the past couple of years, Rowley said.

“That’s getting awfully close to home,” he said.

Drew Naber knew Doyle through the Lions club and a social golf group.

“He just seemed pretty much a normal guy,” Naber said. “He was reasonably laid back. He was always in a good mood. He was a pleasant guy to be around.”

Anyone with information on the case should call Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600 or investigators at 704-432-8477.

This story was originally published July 21, 2015 at 2:14 PM with the headline "Charlotte Police say murder investigation near Lake Wylie includes robbery charges."